Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 76 Li Dongyang is imprisoned by the Imperial Guards
Inside the Longzong Gate, the fire in the bronze tripod was burning red, and Zhu Houzhao's face was as red as the fire in the bronze tripod.

Even though the room was warm as spring, Zhu Houzhao was still trembling all over. He scrubbed his face vigorously with his hands and gnashed his teeth:

"I want to kill someone!"

Zhu Houzhao spoke this sentence in a very low voice, so low that the airflow generated by his speech was not enough to disperse the smoke in the incense burner, but it still sounded like a thunderclap in the ears of the cabinet ministers and the eunuchs in the Imperial Household Department.

Liu Jin, Li Dongyang, Ma Wensheng, Jiao Fang, Xu Jin and others bowed consciously and saluted deeply, not daring to breathe loudly:

"Your Majesty, please calm down!"

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Li Dongyang, waved his sleeves, and clenched his fists: "Tell me, how should we deal with these two things?"

It was already the middle of winter, and the New Year was approaching, but it was also at this time that Zhu Houzhao finally received the news that the team escorting Wang Shu was massacred by the Tartars, and that Wang Shu's body was missing, and that many villages had been massacred by the Tartars.

After all, the Tatars' disturbance of the border was a major military event, and it was routine to report it to the emperor urgently.

Zhu Houzhao never expected that someone would directly attack a high-ranking official of the imperial court like Wang Shu, especially when he had sent the Juesheng Guards to protect him. What's more, the ones who attacked Wang Shu were actually the Tartars!

Zhu Houzhao knew the geographical location of Sanyuan County and how far the Guanzhong area was from Yansui, Guyuan and other places. He did not expect that the Tartars would directly invade the heartland of the Ming Dynasty such as Guanzhong to massacre villages and exterminate clans.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao had reason to believe that this matter should not be as simple as Yang Yiqing said in his memorial.

"Poor prince! Alas!"

Li Dongyang sighed first and covered his face with his sleeves. At this time, he had not received the news from Shao Da Xia about the failure of silencing and assassinating Wang Shu. He only guessed that his conspiracy to silence the witnesses had succeeded from the urgent military report sent by Yang Yiqing over 800 miles about the killing of Wang Shu and his soldiers and the massacre of the village. Therefore, his tense mood relaxed for a long time and continued to act.

Xu Jin looked at Li Dongyang and snorted:
"The prince is pitiful, but the common people whose villages were massacred are even more pitiful. The prince may not want to come to the capital because of the struggle in the court, or because someone with ulterior motives plotted against him. But what crime have the common people whose villages were massacred committed? What relationship do they have with the court? How can some people be so cruel! For their own selfish interests, they don't hesitate to destroy the foundation of our Ming Dynasty! Poisoning lives!"

Zhu Houzhao agreed with Xu Jin's words in his heart. Although the matter seemed perfect, it was the Tartars who killed Wang Shu and massacred the villagers, and it had nothing to do with the local officials and officials in the court who hated Wang Shu. However, any discerning person could guess that even if the Ming Dynasty was in a state of military disrepair, the Tartars would never dare to penetrate into Guanzhong to massacre villages and kill people!
But some things are just like this, but there is no way to prove the truth without evidence.

Zhu Houzhao knew that this was a conspiracy of Li Dongyang and other officials, and it was also their open conspiracy. That is, even if he knew that it was them who did it, he could not do anything to them, because the facts that happened on the surface had nothing to do with them but only with the Tartars.

This kind of game has been played by officials and gentry for a long time, not just once or twice, and the Tartars have also penetrated deep into the interior. Therefore, even though Zhu Houzhao and others suspected that Li Dongyang and his group were responsible, they could not produce any evidence to prove that they were the ones who did it.

Zhu Houzhao was both disappointed and angry. He was disappointed that he might have lost a governor of the East Factory and a future great philosopher, Wang Yangming, in vain, but in the end the murderer of Emperor Hongzhi was not caught, and these people were even killed by Li Dongyang's men. He was angry that Li Dongyang not only killed them but also let the Tartars massacre so many villages.

What Zhu Houzhao did not expect was that Li Dongyang would collude with the Tartars. The fact that he could collude with the Tartars could only mean that the two most powerful officials in Shaanxi, Yang Yiqing, the governor, or Lu Zhonghe, the inspector, were in the same party as Li Dongyang.

Therefore, when Zhu Houzhao first heard this report, he looked at Li Dongyang meaningfully. "Your Majesty, thousands of villagers were killed by the Tartars. The Ministry of Revenue should be ordered to work with local officials to provide generous compensation. As for the death of the prince, the Jinyiwei can be ordered to conduct a thorough investigation. As for what the Minister of War Xu Jin said, I cannot agree with it. The Tartars are inhumane. It is naturally hateful to kill the prince and the villagers, but how can they be linked to the officials of the court! What the Grand Marshal said is fabricated!"

Li Dongyang added a sentence at this time, raised his drooping old eyes, and glanced at Zhu Houzhao secretly. Seeing that Zhu Houzhao's lips were tightly pursed and he was still angry, for some reason, he felt a little proud in his heart.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh at this moment: "Investigate, since it was the Tartars who killed him, why should I investigate? If I want to investigate, I should start from the Qianqing Palace, the Longzong Gate, and the Cabinet! Come, put Li Dongyang in the imperial prison! Strictly interrogate him for the case of framing the Minister of Personnel Wang Shu!"

As soon as Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, the Jinyiwei on duty took Li Dongyang away.

Li Dongyang was very surprised at first: "Your Majesty, why did you put me in jail? What did I have to do with the death of the prince? If it weren't for the cabinet meeting today, I would not have known that Your Majesty would appoint the prince as the Minister of Personnel. How could I have known in advance and harmed the prince? Moreover, since I am the Prime Minister, how could I not tolerate the prince being in charge of the Ministry of Personnel? There is no need to harm the prince! This minister is innocent, this minister is innocent!"

But soon, Li Dongyang guessed that Zhu Houzhao was making a desperate move and had imprisoned him without any reason out of rage.

As a result, Li Dongyang felt somewhat complacent inside, and just pretended to be confused and shouted that it was unfair!

Ma Wensheng was still immersed in the pain of Wang Shu's murder. Now, in the blink of an eye, he saw Li Dongyang imprisoned by Emperor Zhu Houzhao, and he hurriedly advised: "Your Majesty, please calm down! Now is not the time to launch a large-scale case. The evidence is insufficient and the whole story is not clear. If you rashly imprison a minister now, it may make all officials dissatisfied and it will also be a loss to your virtue! Please think twice!"

"Your Majesty! Ma Ci Fu is right. The most urgent task now is to find out the truth of the matter. We should order a minister to investigate in detail. We must find the body of the prince alive or dead. In addition, we must find out why the Tartars were able to enter the pass and penetrate deep into Guanzhong. We should also find out whether it was the dereliction of duty of the civil and military officials in the border towns or whether there were officials inside and outside the border colluding with the Tartars! If we act rashly now, it is easy to alert the enemy and may even cause unnecessary trouble!"

Jiao Fang also suggested at this time.

Zhu Houzhao just laughed coldly: "Why, I can't put Li Dongyang in Jinyiwei prison, so what if he is the Prime Minister!"

"Your Majesty! I am also concerned about your reputation. I understand your feelings. I also hate the traitors and rebels. I even suspect that this matter is related to Li Dongyang, just like your Majesty. But everything must be proven before a crime can be convicted! If we deal with it rashly now, it will easily lead to opposition from all officials!"

Ma Wensheng hurriedly continued.

"What are you afraid of? I am not afraid of the officials. At worst, they won't recognize me as the emperor. I will go back to Huaiyou and learn from Taizu to start a new rebellion!"

Zhu Houzhao said this in a fit of anger.

Ma Wensheng and others were speechless when they heard this, because the emperor was about to rebel himself, so they could only shut up.

"Everyone, step back! Go and call Zhang Yong into the hall!" Zhu Houzhao said.

(End of this chapter)